The Florida press is reacting to the February sales numbers. "Both buyers and sellers are struggling to adjust to the new reality that the boom days are gone. The median price for existing single-family homes in Miami-Dade dropped to $368,700, from $376,300 in January, the third consecutive month of price declines."

"In Miami-Dade, the number of homes on the market increased from 8,811 in June to more than 20,000 in February. Broward's jump has been even more dramatic: leaping from roughly 7,000 homes in June to more than 22,000 last month."

"The typical price of a house in Palm Beach County dipped for the third month in a row as the housing market continued its return to reality. The median price for an existing single-family home sold in February was $391,000, well below November's peak of $421,500."

"The overall market, once untethered by gravity, now is weighed down by rising numbers of homes for sale and cautious buyers. 'We're not in a bust; we're in the middle of a correction,' said Douglas Rill, a longtime broker in West Palm Beach. 'That frenzied 2005 market is over. This is the new norm,' Rill said."

"Investors, flippers and second-home buyers largely have disappeared from the market as soaring prices make it impossible to rent out a home at a profit, said Jim Sahnger in Sewall's Point. 'It's more difficult for investors to make sense of the market,' Sahnger said. 'People are looking at $3,000 a month to own the property, and they can only rent it for $1,800 to $1,900.'"

"Throughout the Volusia-Flagler real estate market, people did a lot more looking than buying during February, with sales of existing homes dropping to 24 percent fewer than a year earlier. Antonio Jimenez today will conduct his fourth open house in six weeks, hoping to attract at least one solid offer on a newly built $459,000 beachside home."

"'I've had three people propose leases with options to buy, but I don't want to rent,' said Jimenez, who lives in Chicago. 'I want a firm offer to buy.' But only three or four people attended each of his first open houses and his last one drew only two people. 'People ask me 'Will I come down on my price?' Sure, I'll come down, but bring me an offer first,' he said."

"The median price of a Collier County house sold with the help of a realtor was $492,300, down 1 percent compared to $498,400 in February 2005. Bruce Babcock in Naples said Collier's market is definitely in a downturn. 'There's still a lot more listings than there were six months ago and they're not moving. The buyers are being cautious, they're kind of waiting on the sidelines. I'm encouraging offers, but they're still of the belief prices will come down and if they wait, they'll be able to get the properties at a lower price.' Meanwhile, he said, 'There are plenty of price decreases, some of them two or three times' over the past two or three months."

"In Lee County, there's been 'a little more activity' recently as buyers go after houses that have had deep price cuts, said Michael Schneider-Christians, based in Cape Coral. 'The sellers are coming down and some people are realizing those are good prices.' One of his clients, Carolyn Reynolds, sold her Cape house recently for $299,000, down from her original asking price of $365,000."

"'I was extremely relieved because I'd already bought another house outside the area and I was sweating it out,' said Reynolds, a retired Allstate Insurance employee. 'We put it on the market in late December and not one person came to look at it for three months,' she said, but after cutting the price to $299,000, 'from last Friday I showed it to three different prospective buyers and the third one bought it.'"

"The median single-family home price in the Fort Pierce-Port St. Lucie area fell in February to $248,400. That was $13,500 less than the January average of $261,500 and $15,000 below the December average of $263,300. Martin County had 2,224 homes for sale in January versus 935 a year earlier, (broker) Stephen Dutcher said. 'The MLS had 93 homes sold, but in 2005 that was almost double at 161.'"

"Higher prices have increased the inventory of unsold homes, said Brad Hunter, who follows housing trends on the Treasure Coast and South Florida. As a result, owners have to drop prices if they want to sell their properties. 'I think there's also a psychology behind this. Buyers think that since there are a lot of good deals now, if you hold out the deals may get better later,' he said."

"'Prices will go down further,' said (broker) Deborah Ray in Fort Pierce. 'I think people need to be very concerned about this downward trend. (Broker) Dave DeWitt in St. Lucie County, agreed. 'I think we'll see slower sales for the next couple of years,' DeWitt said. Prices have reached the point that the person with an average income can't afford to buy a home, he said. 'When people bought their homes two years ago, they didn't expect to get a property tax bill of $5,000 to $6,000,' DeWitt said. 'You combine that with higher insurance rates and that makes it impossible to buy a home.'"

"There's trouble in the bubble. After three years of rapidly inflating real estate, loose credit and dicey financing, the number of court filings notifying Palm Beach County property owners they are facing foreclosure is rising."

"'You are going to start seeing a lot of squirming and shaking now,' said David Levin, a Delray Beach real estate consultant. In Palm Beach County, the troubled properties run the gamut, from a $1.3 million loan on a home assessed at $590,000, to a modest home equity loan with a hefty price tag: 12.2 percent."

"Martin County filings include a pair of million-dollar homes. Of those Martin and Palm Beach county filings that identify the kind of home loan, roughly half are some form of adjustable-rate mortgage, or ARM."

"Some of those high-risk buyers have either counted on more income or on 'flipping' the property to another buyer for more money before a higher rate kicked in. But as prices have come down, would-be flippers are finding themselves stuck with those homes." "'We have been looking at some numbers as well, and we are extremely concerned,' said Michael Flagg, a spokesman with the Washington-based Center for Responsible Lending. 'Our guess is that this is only the small wedge compared to what happens if interest rates go up.'"

"'If they (investors) get stuck, I am not going to feel very sorry for them,' said Muriel Siebert. Some mortgages do not even require proof of income. 'If you can fog a mirror, you can probably get money,' said Levin, the Delray consultant."

"Such willingness to lend can add up to trouble for a borrower. Take the Wellington couple who faced foreclosure on a $425,000 mortgage in 2003. According to court records, the couple took out a $1.3 million mortgage with another lender. The original foreclosure threat went away, but last month the new lender filed its own notice to foreclose and collect on the newer, much larger debt."